


Coincidentally

by marycontrary82



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Fic Exchange, Fluff, Fluffy, Spring Fling, everlark, prompts, the hunger games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 06:52:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/720114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marycontrary82/pseuds/marycontrary82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss Everdeen is going to spend her spring break helping those in need, and more importantly, getting extra points so that she keeps her scholarships. Her undergraduate years are almost behind her, and she's managed to avoid trouble with boys or wasting her time with a social life. What happens when Peeta Mellark, the boy she's hated since high school, ends up on the same trip and she has to share a seat with him for the next seventeen hours? Is it just a coincidence? (Fluffy.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coincidentally

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dracoisalooker76](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracoisalooker76/gifts).



> For Dracoisalooker76. (I hope you like it. I may or may not have stalked your Tumblr to see what you might like)
> 
> The prompt was 'Peeta and Katniss on an alternative spring break trip.' They're in the present day, on a Red Cross/Habitat for Humanity trip to a 9th Ward type area in New Orleans, La. It's written as a one-shot, but I was thinking about expanding if there is any interest.
> 
> Big thanks to Jess (Latinaspitfire) for emergency help. Huge thanks to swishywillow for beta-ing in a pinch (and fast, too)! And special thanks to madefrommemories for reading and encouraging me!

She was late, and Katniss Everdeen was  _never_  late. It’s all she could think about as her feet pounded the pavement, her braid whipping her back. She was late, and the stupid caravan was going to leave her, and she wasn’t going to get the extra points for Ms. Seeder’s sociology class, which meant that she wouldn’t be able to get that ‘A’ she needed to keep her grade-point up, and that meant she wouldn’t able to keep the Switzer Foundation Fellowship (even though she’d already been chosen), which meant that she wouldn’t be able to go to grad school in the fall, which meant her whole plan that she’d worked so hard for was about to crumble, and all because of  _damn Gale Hawthorne_.

She was fuming as she rounded the corner and the two white vans came into view. There was still hope. She could see that they were already in motion, pulling away from the curb. The first van disappeared into traffic as she launched herself towards the second. “ _Wait! Please! Wait_ ,” she yelled, coming closer. She ran as fast as she could until she was running alongside of the van, screaming for it to stop. Just when she thought her legs might give out on her, it started to slow down and she managed to catch up as it stopped at the next traffic light. She pulled her father’s leather duffel bag closer against herself and banged on the window. “ _Wait! Open the door!_ ”

Finally the back door slid open and she climbed in quickly, before traffic started to move again. She suddenly felt extremely self-conscious, realizing all eyes were on her.  She could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks when she realized how she must look, standing there, her signature braid coming completely undone,  panting heavily with a few beads of sweat running down the side of her face, clothed in one of Madge’s long fitted shirts and a pair of her too-tight skinny jeans. At least she’d managed to spare two minutes to brush her teeth and change out of her pajamas and into some of Madge’s clothes.

“ _I’m assuming you’re here for the Red Cross mission trip? Take a seat.”_[M1] The tall, brawny man to her right caught her attention. He was sitting in the front passenger seat, thumbing through a stack of files, only bothering to look at her for a second before returning to the papers. Katniss couldn’t understand how he could possibly even fit in that seat. He was HUGE. She vaguely remembered seeing him around the school fitness center when she went for archery classes. In the driver’s seat was an older woman with white hair tied into a neat bun and a warm smile that crinkled at her eyes. Katniss liked her instantly and couldn’t help thinking that she reminded her of Greasy Sae.

The vehicle started forward with a lurch and suddenly Katniss remembered that she was still standing. She quickly glanced to the back of the van and was thankful to notice that one of the seats in the back was still open. The van was one of those old passenger vans with bench seats all the way through. As she made her way to the back and plopped down in the seat she took a moment to glance at her seat mate. She wondered how anyone could sleep so soundly at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, in a van full of people, no less. It was a definitely a ‘he,’ that’s for sure. She couldn’t see his face or hair underneath the hoodie that was pulled up tightly over his head, but she could see his arms and hands clearly from the way they were positioned in front of his face. He had really nice hands. They looked strong, and big, and kind of manly.

She shook her head to rid herself of the unwanted thoughts as she let her eyes take the rest of him in. He had nice arms too, with a light dusting of freckles and light blond hairs. His skin was light, almost like a peach, and she could see the ripples of his muscles under his shirt as he snored softly next to her. Her eyes traveled downward still, and she could feel her face heat up again as she noticed that his legs were spread out and her eyes zeroed in on the unmistakable bulge in the front of his jeans.  She grabbed her bag and began to rifle through it to distract herself. She finally found her dad’s weathered ‘Panem U Fighting Chickens’ sweatshirt and held it to her face, inhaling deeply; a habit she’d developed when she was young to help deal with her nervousness around strangers. And for some reason, the stranger occupying the seat next to her really made her nervous. She told herself it had nothing to do with or the fact that he smelled inexplicably good, even from 2 feet away, or those muscled arms and the rippled chest and abs that were no doubt hiding under that hoodie.  _Definitely not_. Katniss was not the type to lust after boys. That kind of behavior was reserved for girls like Madge and Johanna and Clove.

Katniss couldn’t help but wonder about the sleeping stranger. She knew from the info packet that all the other participants were in Ms. Seeder’s sociology intro class, but she was certain she’d remember someone who looked like this. She decided he must be in one of the other sections, and racked her brain for the names she’s seen last week on the sign-up sheet, but came up blank. She could have sworn she knew all the people who’d signed up already. She wondered if maybe someone else had signed up. They would have had to request to get in, like she had. Lucky for her Ms. Seeder was a sympathetic woman, and one of the few professors privy to Katniss’ financial situation. She’d managed to get this far without racking up too much debt, relying mostly on scholarships and her tips from the Mockingjay. She was almost there. She’s already qualified for some other environmental science grants for next year, and with the scholarship she would have enough to start grad school in the fall with a little left over. She’d be able to start funneling all of her income into Prim’s college fund, and when Prim started Johns Hopkins in the fall, it would all be worth it. All the late nights slinging drinks for that jerk Snow down at the Mockingjay, all the years of clipping coupons and eating nothing but ramen for weeks, even the shame of taking free ‘sponsor meals’ in high school, was all worth it now that things were finally falling into place.

She let her eyes drift back to his arms once more, just so she could see if she recognized him, of course. Just as her eyes started to rake over him, the van suddenly screeched to a stop as the car in front of them swerved to avoid a pedestrian. She could hear the chorus of obscenities and from the front of the van and the accompanying honks from other cars. As the stranger next to her woke from the sudden movement, she quickly turned her head to stare out the window and disguise the redness in her cheeks from almost being caught staring.

The big guy in the front finally tore himself away from his notes and turned towards the rest of the van to address them. Katniss kept her eyes glued to the front of the van and refused to give into her curiosity and glance at the boy beside her, even though she could feel his eyes on her for a bit too long. She suddenly felt acutely aware of the fact that both she and the stranger had placed their bags on their sides, next to the windows, forcing them to sit mere inches apart, if that. She did her best to zone back into what the large professor was telling them and not concentrate on the warmth radiating from the stranger in the seat next to her.

_“…….so you will be expected to get your hands dirty. I know Katrina was seven years ago, but there are still thousands of people living in temporary or substandard housing, especially in the ninth ward areas. What you kids will be doing down there is invaluable to the people you’re helping. It’s important that you don’t slack off or cut corners to make less work; these are the homes that people will be living in for the next 20 years, at least. I’m Brutus Maddron, one of the kinesiology professors, and one of your chaperones for this trip, and this Magdelina d'Ancona….”_

_You can call me Mags_ ,” the older woman pipes in, and Katniss knows her instincts were right. She reminds her of a grandmother, or at least what Katniss imagines a grandmother must be like from the pictures on Madge’s shelf.

“ _Yes, Mags, one of the humanities professors and the organizer of this trip. Every year we run one of these spring break trips and we’re glad to see familiar faces,”_ he nods at a small man and woman in the front, both wearing brightly colored checkered shirts and horn-rimmed glasses. Katniss notices that they seem close, and she hopes that they aren’t a couple. Ugh. She hates couples. “ _As well as some new additions,”_ he nods at a few other students, and then at Katniss and the stranger beside her. She still can’t bring herself to look over at him, but she swears she can still feel him looking at her.

“ _Just a few announcements, and you guys can go back to your phones or your i-whatevers and I’ll leave you alone. Firstly, get to know the person next to you. They’ll be your partners at the worksite, so get used to working together. And second, this is a 17 hour trip, so get comfortable. There are eight more students and two more chaperones in the other van, and the university is not going to pay to put twenty people up in a hotel, so this is the best we could do. We’ll be trading off four drivers, each in four and a half hour shifts, so no one gets tired. We’ll have bathroom breaks every three hours, or sooner if someone needs, and we’ll stop for food every five hours while everyone is awake. I suggest you stock up on snack foods at the next gas station we stop at, if you didn’t already bring any_.  _Everything you need to know should be in your packets, and if you have any more questions, you could ask Mags. Not me. Now let’s make sure I check you in so you get credit for being here._   _Delilah Cartwright_!”

“ _Here! It’s Delly, actually. Delilah was my grandmother’s….”_

“ _Wow, thanks for the special glimpse into your life, but just say ‘here’ so I can check your name off the list, okay everyone?”_   

Katniss tries to stifle a smirk as she notices Delly and Thom for the first time sitting in the row behind the couple with the glasses.  She hopes Delly isn’t assigned to be her roommate. They’d grown up in the same hometown and she never really could stand her. She was nice and everything, but that never sat right with Katniss. She was suspicious of people like that. No one could be THAT happy all the time. It didn’t help that Delly was always glued to the hip of Peeta Mellark. She hated Peeta. Thom was okay, she guessed. He was from the Seam[M2] , like her, and his dad had been a coal miner, like Katniss.’ He died in the same explosion, too. She wondered exactly when he’d gotten so chummy with Delly Cartwright. Her hometown had pretty clear class divisions, and many of those had carried over to the university, since it was only about 45 miles away. She’s noticed that merchants tended to stick with other merchants, and the seam kids that actually got to go to college stuck to other seam kids. The friendship between her, Gale, and Madge was a rare exception.

“ _Thom Eames.”_

_”Here!”_

_“Katniss Everdeen.”_

Katniss raise her hand.  _”Here!”_ Delly turns around and flashes grin at her, and Katniss makes sure to scowl just in case she has any plans of trying to friend her in the near future. Delly just continues to smile, and then turns her attention to the stranger. Katniss isn’t sure what’s going on, but Delly is definitely sharing some sort of unspoken thoughts with the stranger as she keeps her eyes on him for a few seconds too long. Katniss wonders if maybe she’s trying to flirt with the stranger. He must be very good looking, she thinks to herself.

_“B. T. Feynman.”_

_“Affirmative!”_

_“Cashmere Hilton.”_

_“Here”_

_“Gloss Hilton.”_

_”Here!”_

_“Wiress Hopper.”_

_“Present!”_

Katniss thought BT and Wiress -the two with the horn-rimmed glasses- didn’t look too bad, but she could tell already that she wouldn’t get along with the two blondes in the seat in front of her. They had an elitist air to them and they kept glancing disdainfully around the van.

 _“And….our late addition….”_ Mr. Maddron began rifling through the papers again. _“Peeta Mellark.”_

Katniss barely had time to register the shock before she heard the smooth voice ring out from the seat next to her.

_“_ _Here!”_

She finally has the courage to turn her head and look at the boy sharing the seat with her, praying that she be at least spared from this humiliation. When her eyes lock with Peeta’s strikingly blue eyes, she realizes that her prayers were in vain, because, sure enough, here she was, about to share a seat for the next seventeen hours with  _Peeta frigging Mellark_. Of course. He flashed a dopey grin at her and she couldn’t help rolling her eyes. He did have a nice smile, though, not that she’d ever admit that. His jaw was pretty nice, too. She hadn’t really seen him in years and it was hard not to notice how well he’s grown into the bone structure of his face. He still had those blonde curls but now they were a bit longer and flopped slightly onto his face. She wondered how it was even fair that someone looked that good when they’ve only been awake for two minutes.

She snapped her eyes back up to his when she realized she may have been admiring the contours of his face just a bit too long. He was still smiling stupidly at her, and Katniss wondered if he even remembered her. He must not. She looked a little different than she had in high school, too. A regular eating schedule had allowed her curves to fill out a little, even though she was still naturally thin. The archery and kickboxing classes had added a bit of muscle definition to her legs and arms, and the extra sunshine from walking around campus made her olive skin glow healthier than ever before. Her hair was longer and her face had lost the dark circles that she usually had in high school. According to Madge, she looked “hot,” but it was hard to know whether or not Madge was just being nice, and as she didn’t date;[M3]  there was really no one else besides Gale to give opinions on the matter.

Peeta stared at her for a minute longer before finally licking his lips and deciding to speak. “ _Hi Katniss. Ummm, how are you?”_ So he _does_ remember her, she thought. His smile faltered for a second as he waited for a response, and Katniss managed a smile-like grimace in his direction.

“ _Fine, you know. The usual. Graduating in May, then starting grad school in the fall.”_

_“That’s really great. Wow, grad school! You were always really smart, so I’m not surprised.”_

Katniss felt another blush rising on her face at his last words. It was hard to tell if it was the fact that he called her smart, or fact that he apparently knew that much about her in the first place. When she glanced at him again, he was staring at her intently, as if her face was a coded message he was trying to decipher.  Suddenly it felt all too familiar and she remembered feeling just like this in high school when she would sometimes catch him looking at her in class. She decided to try and deflect the attention back to him.

_“So what about you? What have you been doing?”_

He smiled again, but this time it was bright and genuine.  _“The same, pretty much. I’m graduating in May and then preparing to take over the bakery so dad can retire.”_

Katniss tried not to let the surprise show in her voice.  _“Really? Wow, that’s great Peeta. I didn’t know that you were doing that. I guess I always assumed one of your brothers would take over, or your mom, but you were the one with the baking talent, for sure.”_

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she worried that she has said too much. How could she explain that she’d just happened to notice these things about him? Thankfully he must not have noticed in lieu of the compliment, and ran his fingers through his hair as his cheeks tinted pink. He looked at her again and his eyes somehow manage to look even bluer than normal, his smile so wide now that she can’t help but wonder if it hurt him to smile that big.  “ _Yeah, well,_   _my brothers weren’t really interested in carrying on the Mellark legacy and my mom thankfully didn’t get much in the divorce, so it went to me. I always loved the bakery, and I always spent the most time working there.”_

Katniss failed to hide the shock on her face.  _“Your parents are divorced? Wow, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”_

Peeta looked away and let out a bitter laugh. _“Yeah, she ran off with Seneca Crane to New York. They got married recently. I read about it in the paper. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard. It was quite the fodder for gossip in Panem for the last year or so.”_

Katniss pursed her lips as she thought of those horrible women in town gossiping about Mr. Mellark. He was such a kind man, and her father had always spoken very highly of him.  _“I’m not much of one for gossip. You’re both better off, anyway. She was a witch.”_  She winced at her last statement. In the five minutes that she’d talked to Peeta Mellark, which coincidentally, was the longest conversation they’d ever had, she manage to embarrass herself, accidentally reveal that she’d noticed him, and now she was calling his mother a witch.

To her surprise, Peeta began to laugh. She wasn’t sure what was so funny, but at least it didn’t seem like he was mad at her. He scrubbed his hands over his face as he shook with laughter.  _“Oh god, she really is, but no one ever wants to admit that. That’s what I love about you, you’re so honest.”_

 _“Ha. More like my brain-to-mouth filter is permanently malfunctioning. Doesn’t exactly make me popular.”_ She tried not to think about the fact that he had said he _loved_ something about her.

_“Yeah, well, popularity is overrated.”_

_“You would know.”_ Katniss couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice and suddenly she remembered exactly why she hated Peeta Mellark so much.

He obviously picked up on her mood shift so he quickly changed the subject.  _“How’s Prim?”_

 _“She’s fine. Good. Great, actually.”_ She couldn’t disguise the smile that lit up her face. Prim was the light of her life and everyone knew it.  _“She got into Johns Hopkins. Early admission, with 3 scholarships. She starts in August. I can’t believe she’s so grown up.”_

_“Johns Hopkins? Wow! That’s really amazing. I saw her in the bakery few weekends ago. She really has turned into a remarkable young woman.  You must be really proud.”_

Katniss couldn’t help the pang of anger that she felt at the way he mentioned Prim, almost affectionately.  _“Yeah, well she has a boyfriend. They’re very serious.”_

Peeta just nodded.  _“Oh, good for her.”_

Katniss couldn’t help herself.  _“And she’s a bit young for you. She’s only just turned eighteen, you know.”_

Now it was Peeta’s turn to look shocked.  _“Too old for her? You think……no. Just no. Prim is very cute, but I think of her more like a sister. And she’s not my type anyway, just so you know.”_ Peeta’s eyes are downcast as he stares into his lap.

 _“Oh, cute young blondes aren’t your TYPE? Really?”_ She says it with as much sarcasm as she can muster; channeling all the hate she’s ever felt for him into the question.

To her surprise, Peeta doesn’t back down. Instead he looks up at her and holds her gaze for a moment before his eyes travel down her the length of body and back up to her eyes again.  _“No, they’re not.”_ His blue eyes turn just a shade darker as they bore into her own, and she tries to ignore the unfamiliar tightness in her belly and the hairs that stand up on the back of her neck at his words.

She gulps and tries not to imagine what his type actually might be.  _“Oh, okay.”_ Even in her own head, her voice sounds small. She suddenly feels self-conscious again, realizing that her braid is still a mess and she’s sweating underneath her coat and scarf.

She removes them and sets to work on her hair, yanking out the elastic hair tie, and pulling her fingers through to comb it out. She hears Peeta clear his throat and sneaks a glance in his direction just in time to catch him staring at her out of the corner of his eye, his cheeks dusted pink again. For some reason, she feels the need to explain herself.  “ _I don’t usually look like this, but I was late, and I didn’t have much time_.”

His eyes linger on her for a split second. “ _You look great, actually, especially with your hair down_.” She’s too embarrassed to look at him, but luckily he spares her again.

“ _So why were you late_?”

She lets out a huff. “ _Stupid Gale kept me up all night,_[M4]  _and I was so tired when I got off work an hour ago that I fell asleep on the couch while my clothes were washing. I woke up about twenty minutes ago. I almost didn’t make it here. I had to wear Madge’s clothes because mine weren’t dry.”_

He nods again, but his features have stiffened, like he’s steeling himself for her answer. “ _Gale Hawthorne? Prim’s dating his brother, right?”_ He looked almost pained, and she can’t help but wonder why.  _Maybe he does like Prim after all_. Why else would it bother him?

_“Rory, yeah. They’re probably going to get married soon, I guess.”_

He laughs again, but his tone remains dark. _“That must be interesting, that your boyfriends are brothers.”_

It takes a second for his words to register. “ _My boyfriend? Huh? Gale?”_

“ _Umm yeah, I just thought, I mean, everyone thought….”_

“ _Ha! He is SO not my boyfriend. Ew. Never. He’s like my brother. And he’s been dating Madge, anyway. They got in a fight last night, though, and he crashed on the air mattress in my room.”_

 _“Oh, really?”_  She didn’t miss the fact that his voice went up an octave when he said this, but she couldn’t for the life of her imagine why.

_“Yeah. Just a friend.”_

Peeta smiles brightly again and pulls out a deck of cards _. “Want to play ‘goldfish?’”_

* * *

Katniss wakes up to realize that she’s alone in the van, and they’re parked outside a fast food restaurant.  The last thing she remembers is beating Peeta at goldfish for about the thirtieth time before she must have fallen asleep, and a glance at her watch tells her they’ve been traveling for 12 hours already. She can smell fried chicken in the air and it takes all her willpower not to go inside and spend the rest of her money to gorge herself. She rifles through her bag instead to find some deer jerky. The meals are paid for once they arrive at the hotel, so all she has to worry about is the trip up there and back. She’s gone much longer on much less food. Suddenly the door opens and Peeta slides in, carrying a huge bag of food and two coffees. Katniss reaches up to smooth her hair down, not for Peeta, of course, but just in case the rest of the group gets back.

He makes his way to the back and sits next to her, handing her one of the coffees. She eyes it suspiciously.  _“What’s this for?”_

He shrugs nonchalantly. “ _Just thought you’d want some. I ordered a family size meal and it came with two coffees. Didn’t want it to go to waste.”_  Crap, it was like he knew her weakness. She hated seeing food or drink go to waste.  _Spending half of your life at the brink of starvation will do that to you,_ she mused.

He starts pulling the food out of the bag and Katniss has to bite her lip to stop from drooling. It smells so good. 

 _"Fried chicken for breakfast. We’re officially in southern territory, aren’t we_?” He grins at her again.

She only nods. The food is way too distracting to make conversation. He sets to work opening the biscuits, and pouring some kind of hot sauce, along with sweet and sour sauce, onto the chicken and then placing the chicken inside the biscuit. She knows she must be staring, but she’s way too fascinated to stop.

_“So, what made you decide to do this trip? You enjoy helping your fellow man?”_

Katniss couldn’t help the snort that she let out at that statement.  _“Hardly. I want the extra credit, just like everyone else.”_

He looks confused _. “What you mean by that?”_

She scoffs _. “What I mean, Peeta, is that people don’t do things without ulterior motives. People don’t just want to help other people without getting something in return.”_ She shrugs.  _“It’s just the way the world is.”_

Peeta almost looks hurt, but quickly recovers and just nods again.  _“Maybe someone will change your mind about that someday.”_

She scoffs again. _“Not likely.”_

To her surprise, Peeta hands her two of the biscuits and some apple slices from the bag. “ _Here, eat this. This is way too much food.”_

Suddenly Katniss can feel the rage boiling up, and by the time she looks him in the eye she’s seething. “ _No thanks, Mellark, I’ve had enough of your CHARITY to last a lifetime, thank you,” s_ he manages to grit out through her clenched teeth.

Confusion laces his features for a moment before realization dawns on him. “ _Katniss, that was a long time ago, and I don’t really remember exactly what happened….”_

_“Yeah well, I remember it pretty clearly.”_

* * *

And she does. She remembers every single feeling. She remembers what it was like to starve, and how hopeful she’d felt when the school announced that they were allowing people to “sponsor“ schoolchildren by anonymously placing lunches for them in designated cubbyholes. She remembers the hopefulness she felt when she first saw the cubby with her name on it, and the despair she felt watching Prim waste away before her eyes as the cubby stayed empty every single day.

She remembered the feeling of disbelief and sheer joy the first time she saw a small brown paper bag in her cubby, at the beginning of her sophomore year of high school. Those lunches had changed her entire life. To anyone else, they were nothing. Sandwiches and chips and sometimes fruit or a cookie. Nothing to a merchant kid. But for Katniss and Prim, it was everything. The lunches got bigger and bigger, and started to include items that they could take home over the weekends, like day-old loaves of bread and canned goods. Because of that food, her and Prim were able to buckle down in school and get their grades back up. If it hadn’t been for those lunches, Katniss wouldn’t have been able to win those scholarships and get into Panem U. Prim wouldn't be going to medical school.

And then one day, right before the end of senior year, she heard Cato and his group of friends whispering about her. Eventually she had gotten tired of the staring and whispering and suggestive whistles and demanded that Madge tell her what was going on. She still remembers what it felt like to find out that it had been Peeta sponsoring her all along, and worse yet, the entire school thought that he’d “bought her” with the food. He wouldn’t have been the first merchant to but a seam girl’s virtue with food and gifts. She still remembers what it was like to pick up a crying Prim from middle school because the kids had been taunting her about it. And she still remembers the rage she felt towards Peeta for playing such a cruel joke. To give her that kind of hope, purely for his own amusement. She stopped taking the lunches then and there, and never spoke to Peeta Mellark again.

Until now.  

* * *

She continued to glare at him as he flinched like she slapped him. Katniss thought vaguely that maybe she should let him explain first, but four years of pent-up anger got the best of her. “ _Still like playing cruel jokes on people, Mellark? Or are you just hoping I can be bought?”_

Peeta eyes her warily, like a wild animal. “ _Katniss, I didn’t mean for all that to happen. I never said those things; hell, I didn’t even know about them until after school was over. I’m so sorry. I never meant for it to turn out for like that. Please believe me.”_

Katniss stared at him intensely, looking for any sign of dishonestly, but was met with his sincere blue eyes instead. She drops her shoulders as she let out the breath that she didn’t even know she was holding.  Her eyes search his again. “ _Then why? I don’t understand. You didn’t even know me_.”

His eyes become impossibly sad and he lowers his voice to barely above a whisper, “ _You were starving. I had to do SOMETHING.”_

_“People don’t help out strangers for no reason, Peeta. Why did you do it?”_

He ran his hands through his hair again. “ _It’s complicated, Katniss. Can we talk about this later? The biscuits are getting cold. Please?”_

She scowls at him and he smiles again, as if she didn't just yell at him. “ _I promise I’ll tell you, Katniss, I will. Just later, okay? Let’s just eat. It’s early, we’re tired, and we’re hungry. And I really did buy too many biscuits.”_

She considered the idea of pressing him further but the biscuits prove too great a temptation, and she decides to drop it.

_For now._

The rest of the morning goes smoothly, her and Peeta sticking to safer topics of conversation, like the secret ingredient to his famous cheese buns, which Katniss gushes about embarrassingly, and whether or not old man Abernathy is secretly dating Ms. Trinkett from next door. She tries not to concentrate on the way that his Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows, or the way he smelled like cookies and cheese buns when he leaned over her to grab his hoodie, which she’d apparently been using as a makeshift pillow while she slept. Eventually silence filled the van again and she felt herself fading in and out of consciousness before finally succumbing to sleep again.  

* * *

” _Katniss. Hey Katniss. Wake up_.” She can feel a gentle caress on her arm and a soft voice lulling her out of her slumber. When she opens her eyes she realizes her predicament. She’s snuggled into Peeta Mellark’s side as he leans against the glass, essentially pinning him to it. She realizes that they’re alone in the van and they’re parked under the canopy of a large hotel.

“ _We’re here, Katniss.”_

 _“Oh, sorry_.” She recoils from the warmth of his body as if he’s on fire.

He rubs his hand on the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly at her. “ _It’s fine, really. I ummmmm, slept really well.”_

She shrugs. “ _Yeah, I guess I did too.”_

They unload from the van awkwardly and she follows him silently into the lobby, inhaling the scent of her father's sweatshirt while she walks.

They meet up with the rest of the group as they’re checked into the hotel and given their room assignments. Katniss is paired with a quiet, severe looking girl named Enorbia, who must have been in the other van. She doesn’t look like she’s the type for female bonding, thankfully. After everyone heads up to their rooms, Katniss and Peeta linger awkwardly in the lobby, Katniss picking at invisible lint on her jeans while Peeta shuffles his feet and shoves his hands in his pocket. Finally, he steps forward, looking like there might be something he wants to say, but obviously thinks the better of it and steps back again. “ _See you tomorrow, Katniss_.” He starts towards the elevator and she remains rooted to the spot, not daring to share an enclosed space with him right now, especially since she could vividly recall what it felt like to be snuggled into his warm embrace less than a half hour ago. But as he walks away, her curiosity gets the better of her.

_“Hey Peeta?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Explain. Why you did it. Gave me the food.”_

He sighs. _“I told you, Katniss. I ordered way too much, and I didn’t want it to…”_

_“No, not that food. The lunches. Why did you sponsor me? You didn’t even know me. Why!?”_

He looks at her in shock for a second, clearly not anticipating this question. Finally his eyes soften, and he slowly approaches her. Once he’s standing mere inches away from her, he reaches forward and tucks a stray hair behind her ear, leaning in towards her face.

Katniss can’t help the small sigh that escapes her mouth at the close proximity and she closes her eyes. She can hear and feel him edging close to her, until finally, he rests his hand tentatively on her waist, leans in, and places a lingering kiss on her cheek. “ _You know why_ ,” he whispers to her, and she realizes that in some way, one she’s not quite ready to acknowledge, she  _does_  know. She can practically taste his sweet breath, with a faint hint of cinnamon. She can’t help but feel a small loss when he finally pulls away.

With that he turns and walks towards the elevators again, not looking back, and leaving Katniss frozen in place, with a strange and unfamiliar knot in the pit of her stomach. Not unlike hunger, but,  _different_. Like her heart might beat out of her chest. Like her whole body is on fire even though it’s cold inside the hotel lobby. She can still feel his fingers where he’d caressed her arm, his hand where he'd held her waist, his lips where he’s kissed her cheek. She couldn’t help the stray thoughts that wandered into her mind, like whether or not he’d be working without a shirt in the Louisiana heat tomorrow, like those construction workers on that Diet Coke commercial she's seen with Madge. (She had to admit, the image of Peeta Mellark, shirtless, wielding a hammer, was not entirely unwelcome.  _Not entirely_.) Her thoughts started to wander further still, to what those hands might feel like running down the side of her body, or what  those lips might feel like on her own, or maybe on her neck, or on her….. _oh_!

 _“Oh no_ ,” was all she could think. This was going to be a very long week.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Beetee is named for world-famous theoretical physicist Richard Feynman.  
> Wiress is named for one the smartest female computer scientists, Grace Hopper.  
> Brutus is named for famous bodybuilder Aaron Maddron.  
> Mags is named for sociologist and political activist Hedy d'Ancona.  
> Thom is named for architect Charles Ormond Eames  
> 'Panem U' is located about 40 miles outside the mining town of Centralia, PA, and about about 2 hours away from Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Md.  
> Panem U's mascot is the fighting chicken, but used to be the fighting roosters. *wink*  
> Cashmere and Gloss are named for Paris and Nikki Hilton.  
> The road trip from PA to New Orleans is about 17 hours. I wanted to give them almost an entire day to bond.  
> The fast food restaurant they stop at is Popeye's, of course.  
> It's not written in the story, because I couldn't find the right place for it, but it's implied that Peeta sponsored Prim's lunches, too. He sent them to the middle school with Delly's little brother.


End file.
